I've read that their mother still lives in Taiwan... I'm certain their accent/vocabulary is Taiwanese-influenced though. Jih is also the Wade-Giles rendering of the word "季" ("season"), which while read the same in Mandarin is spelt Ji in Pinyin.

Or maybe it's to do with the "Taiwan = / != China" issue? Affairs are much more complicated than the layman in the West thinks it is! Won't dwell upon it, but noting that unlike what the Western media tries to imply, China's not the devil reincarnate when it comes to foreign affairs...

*speaking as someone more familiar with, but not inclined towards either side*

A little more from MM...On behalf of RFF, I thank him/her for his/her generosity, and hope TPTB would be nice.

Quote from: MM

First of all, the entire crew consists of no less than ten people. I didn't count, but I'm guessing around twenty. Preparations were done by both the American and Chinese crews: the Chinese side was a film company from Beijing - I can't remember the name. The Guilin leg was organized by the Taoyuan Travel Agency. Planning and preparation took a week, with the Beijing crew arriving first to pave the way. Route planning and the recces were run by CBS the day before. Actually, every task and every location has been tested the day before by the crew. I followed my Boss around the entire circuit in one day.

I received the teams the day the planes arrived. Each team is followed by two crew members: one for lighting, one for filming. When the teams run out of the airport - that's the time they change their equipment. They've got huge packs, I'm thinking that's the equipment, that they threw at the crew, and they tossed out all the old stuff. The (main) crew followed onto the vehicles and trailed the taxis the whole way - that's how they get a lot of the footage.

The process was really interesting! Hoho!

I did have a run-in with the Taoyuan Travel Agency people. Not very friendly folks, I must say.

Quote from: MM

They actually cut out a lot of the fight between the mother/son and the blacks. I was watching while they were fighting. Because the son had trouble communicating, he eventually cried. His mum kept trying to console him, saying "Let it go, forget it...", but he couldn't calm down. In the end two members of the crew, including my Boss [name], tried to resolve the issue, and it took them a long time.

I thinking now that it's over it's OK if I speak. Those old folks (at the tasks) don't know much; the crew wouldn't tell them much, and they'd simply do as they're told. Sometimes they'd be confused over why everyone was in such a hurry, and sometimes they'd just crowd around to see what was going on. Some of the crew got upset over this. The crew and the production assistants were really worked hard, some had to work overnight without going home. It was so bad it could take your life. (This is a similar expression to Victor's quote).

We're not allowed to help the contestants, not even be seen by them. Otherwise there'd be no point to the race!

Uh-oh.

Quote from: Z

MM, I know who you are. I am Z, haha!

Don't forget the contract is three years!

Random quote.

Quote

Victor and Tammy should let their next driver call dispatch, and tell them that if any foreigners get onto a cab with a camera, and constantly scream "Go go go!", they should first drive those teams to Shijiazhuang. They should call the other companies as well, so no matter what taxi the other teams get on they'd be headed for Hubei Province.

The posts following that suggest Shenyang... and then Harbin...

Just stumbled onto a thread where they're really not happy about Jaime's attitude towards China... *backs off slowly*

« Last Edit: April 22, 2009, 02:38:02 AM by Neobie »

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Found out that Neobie in Chinese means "f*king awesome"! No, really. Look it up!

What are they talking about more especially to Tammy/Victor and the other teams moreso wink*JAIME*wink? Hehe... Could you quote some hilarious or odd comments though? Too bad if this is Chinese, Babelfish or google does an ugly translation...

The mother had been telling Luke not to dwell upon it, but seeing how upset her son was she had to say a few words. They cut a lot out of that, she kept saying "Let it go, forget it..." But Luke felt very wronged; he couldn't calm himself down and ran off. His mother did say "Enough, it's pointless to continue arguing like this".

When they were filming this, I was standing by the side. Both sides were in the wrong, the blacks were indeed jeering.

Alright, here are a few more peeks into the Chinese psychology...

(These posts are reflective of the cultural peculiarities of the Chinese society, but remember the 90% of posts that are similar to those like those on TWoP - their views on the racers are pretty much 100% similar! The Chinese and the American have much more in common that they'd like to admit...)

Is Victor gay? His Chinese is so girly.

To that girl contestant, do you know China? You were never so worked up over going to other places. Americans are disgusting, always playing up biases.

- Why do you guys think that way? Are you guys without bias? Don't you guys think lowly of India and such? Anyway, that's just an individual's view of China, how can you extrapolate it onto the American people as a whole?

- Many foreigners have been brainwashed. I believe the girls act that way because of the American media. CNN and BBC never show the good side of China, always talking about farms, being backward, human rights and stuff. If they have to say something good, they'd always add a "however" at the back and then continue with the bashing. The foreign media is not 100% just, it's just selectively just. I've heard idiotic questions over in the UK because of this media bias, things like "Do you have 29in TVs over in China?"

- Let's not get too worked up. Watching the India episodes I myself was thinking "Why is the place so dirty? Their quality of life is sad. The trains are terrible." I know if I join a race that went to America I'd be caught saying "There are guns everywhere, that's real scary!"

Why does the crowd swarm upon the racers each time they come to China? I'm speechless. And Guilin looks so run-down in this episode.

- Of course people would take a peek! It's our cultural signature! Guilin isn't famous for its infrastructure; it's the scenery that's breathtaking. Just watching the episode I can smell the crisp fresh air already...

On the Phuket leg: The son is letting the mother pull the rickshaw! I can't continue watching anymore...

Calling people "bitch" in America is not as serious as it seems. Girls joke throwing around phrases like that. Anyway, a gentleman uses his pen, not his sword (approximate transposition of a Chinese idiom into an English one); getting physical - do you still consider yourself a man?

« Last Edit: April 22, 2009, 06:36:16 AM by Neobie »

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Found out that Neobie in Chinese means "f*king awesome"! No, really. Look it up!

I know no Chinese, but I have heard that there are 4 different endings for words. Some of them involve an upward pitch and some a downward pitch. Those upward pitches could sound "girlish" to observers who know nothing about the Chinese language, but that is built into the Chinese language and should be accepted as the way it is for about 700 million chinese males.

If I am wrong on this, those who speak Mandarin should feel free to correct me.

That spoiler never leaked out of RFF as far as I know (not even Sucks), and it was deliberately buried after just a few days. Does that mean TPTB's spying on us as much as we're spying on them? They must hate us.

Apskip, you're right about the four tones, but I don't think it's because of that - it's the Chinese who are calling him sissy!

« Last Edit: April 22, 2009, 10:34:04 AM by Neobie »

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Found out that Neobie in Chinese means "f*king awesome"! No, really. Look it up!

I know no Chinese, but I have heard that there are 4 different endings for words. Some of them involve an upward pitch and some a downward pitch. Those upward pitches could sound "girlish" to observers who know nothing about the Chinese language, but that is built into the Chinese language and should be accepted as the way it is for about 700 million chinese males.

If I am wrong on this, those who speak Mandarin should feel free to correct me.

If you pay close attention, in spite of all the tones, Victor keeps this nerve-wrecking accent he uses when he yells something in an über-chipper way. I lol'd a lot from this

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The story so far:In the beginning the Universe was created.This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move

I know no Chinese, but I have heard that there are 4 different endings for words. Some of them involve an upward pitch and some a downward pitch. Those upward pitches could sound "girlish" to observers who know nothing about the Chinese language, but that is built into the Chinese language and should be accepted as the way it is for about 700 million chinese males.

If I am wrong on this, those who speak Mandarin should feel free to correct me.

As a native mandarin speaker (and with a Tiawaneese accent), his speech still sounds sissy.

If you pay close attention, in spite of all the tones, Victor keeps this nerve-wrecking accent he uses when he yells something in an über-chipper way. I lol'd a lot from this

I have a lot of family members who speak Chinese Putonghua and Mandarin, I have been to Cantonese speaking places, and have heard a lot of Chinese artists speaking in Chinese (because my Dad particularly watches Chinese shows every night) but they don't sound as sissy as Victor would have said it... But I think TPTB and the editors edit Victor as a super sissy speaker, not really the other times that he speaks...

I know no Chinese, but I have heard that there are 4 different endings for words. Some of them involve an upward pitch and some a downward pitch. Those upward pitches could sound "girlish" to observers who know nothing about the Chinese language, but that is built into the Chinese language and should be accepted as the way it is for about 700 million chinese males.

If I am wrong on this, those who speak Mandarin should feel free to correct me.

As a native mandarin speaker (and with a Tiawaneese accent), his speech still sounds sissy.

I think Victor has children, or maybe they're Tammy's? Found it on their facebook pageNeobie u r amazing, I was gonna translate what u've post into english and u already have done it. Great job!

thought the picture of the guy who got fired has been leaked.. I guess maybe he report the mistake himself

I guess TAR will consider to hire some really professional guys next time they visit China. what a leak they did

I think Victor has children, or maybe they're Tammy's? Found it on their facebook page

At RFF, what happens on Facebook STAYS on FB and is not brought to the forum. But I believe you are incorrect.

But SO glad you are posting here now!!

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"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

the producer assistant girl says a lot of producers and equipment and security crew can't be credited for at the end titleand the camera crew switch their old equipment with the new one from the producers when they first step out the airportwondering if MR. van muster always travels together with phil when TAR is filming? we all know he has scouted the locationes several times before that

This is a screen cap of Jen & Kisha just after Jen pulled the clue. Taken from Ep 9 @ CBS. The time is 1:28 (in opening of show)

I have been debating for almost a week in mentioning this. I've watched and rewatched and it appears that Jen does a Chin Flick gesture at Margie & Luke after Jen had pulled her clue. It's very quick and I'm not 100% positive that is what she is doing. It sure looks like it though.

Jen says it was a bwitch move that's why she called Luke a bwitch. Both of them repeatedly called Luke and Margie & Luke bwitches during the cab rides. Jen said in the cab that she was thinking about laughing at them just to piss them off.

I think that the laughing was more than a nervous giggle. I know editing had a lot to do with what we saw but I still feel that Luke was not totally to blame. Jen definitely ran into Luke at the first clue box.

Thats a good shot. If what you speculate is true, how would Luke see her. He is behind the tree. She could just be rubbing her cheek after getting elbowed there. None of us was there, thats a fact. All we can do it take sides and what good does that do. It's TV show for goodness sake. Whatever happened, happened 5 months ago and they are all friends now. Time to let it all go.

But I think there is plenty of blame to spread around to all 4 of the participants.

They spent 15 minutes to learn the dance, tried out 25 minutes at the dancing and didn't get the clue, and spent another 10 minutes to decide whether they should leave the challenge or not, then finally completed it on another try using the next 10 minutes. There you have it, an hour wasted, as compared to the other three teams doing the Detour that is idiot proof and one can't go wrong.. it was obvious which one they should have done. I wished they could have done Calligraphy though, would have been the first time there are four teams on the mat.

Here's something I've been wondering about. Unless Margie/Luke & Kisha/Jen's supposed 45-minute meltdown happened off the mat, how oh how did Jaime/Cara fall behind the other 3 teams by 45 minutes or more?

The "45 minutes" came from me. I have looked at all of Phil's blogs and cannot find the reference. I stated this earlier. The only place I cannot find is the segment where Phil was on the Bonnie Hunt show. It is not my habit to "dream up" some number like that. Some where I heard Phil reference a 42-45 minute mat meltdown. So till I can find the reference, treat that "45 minutes" like a grain of sand.

@DrRox: I've heard that too somewhere outside of RFF. Funny thing is, I actually heard somewhere that it lasted somewhere to two hours. I want to say "Let's wait for next week" but after the whole Phuket departure mishap, not so much.